Three students from Durango High School (DHS) have earned recognition as National Merit Semifinalists, placing them among the top high school seniors in the nation.
Seniors Gideon Bokelman, Luke Wright, and Grayson Farnsworth were named among approximately 16,000 semifinalists nationwide in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program. All three students achieved perfect scores on the math portion of the exam, with one student scoring a perfect overall mark of 1520.
From left, Durango High School Principal Dr. Jon Hoerl; 12th graders Luke Wright, Grayson Farnsworth, and Gideon Bokelman; and Academic Advisor Deb Medenwaldt gather outside the school. Wright, Farnsworth, and Bokelman were named 2027 National Merit Semifinalists. (Photo by Natalie Phillips, DHS 11th grader and yearbook photographer)
Beyond their academic testing successes, the three students are actively involved across the school community. Bokelman and Wright participate in the school's engineering program and Chaotic Robotics club, two of the students are members of the National Honor Society, and all three take advantage of DHS Collegiate Pathways courses. Academic Advisor Deb Medenwaldt has also played a key role in supporting all three students throughout their high school journeys.
"One of the aspects of becoming the top public high school in Colorado is strong academic performance and rigor," said DHS Principal Dr. Jon Hoerl. "When we have students who are recognized at this level, it shows how even a geographically isolated, rural comprehensive high school can compete and shine as well as those schools in large, urban areas. It speaks to the quality of our programming, our students, our staff, our families and community."
More than 1.2 million juniors representing over 20,000 high schools entered the program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Representing less than 1% of high school seniors across the country, the pool of semifinalists includes the highest-scoring test takers in each state.
About 95% of semifinalists are expected to advance to Finalist standing, and approximately half of those finalists will earn a National Merit Scholarship and the official Merit Scholar title.
The 2026 PSAT/NMSQT will take place Oct. 7 at DHS. Juniors interested in taking the exam can sign up now by contacting their academic advisor.
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School Storytellers: Thank you to Dr. Jon Hoerl and Morgan Kraska for sharing this story and the accompanying photo.
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